Gabrielle Giffords

Gabrielle Giffords, When President George H.W. Bush came to visit in the hospital, Rep. Gabrielle Giffords could only say “Wow!” And another word he had been throwing often at the time, “chicken.”

Months later, when he was shown photos of famous people to see if he recognized faces, looked at Arnold Schwarzenegger Giffords, and answered more or less accurate: “Messin ‘Around. Babies.”

These and other details appear in a new book by Giffords and her husband, who offers the most personal and agonizing slow recovery after being shot in the head at close range.

The memoir, entitled Gabby: A story of courage and hope, Giffords describes efforts in the past 10 months to relearn how to walk and talk, and the painful discovery that six people died in the attack of 08 January from a grocery store in Tucson.

The Associated Press purchased an advance copy of the book, which goes on sale November 15.

Husband of perspective
The book is written from the perspective of her husband, former astronaut Mark Kelly. However, Giffords is offered the last chapter – one page of short sentences and phrases called Voice of Gabby in which he says that her goal is to return to Congress.

“I will become stronger. I’m going back,” he wrote.

The book also reveals that the couple, who married in 2007, was trying for a baby. Giffords, 41, had undergone several rounds of fertility treatments in recent years and was hoping to get pregnant in early 2011.

The book does not say whether Giffords will seek reelection next year. Kelly said the couple did not want to rush a decision. The deadline to formally declare their intentions is in May.

The Arizona Democrat was murdered a few days after being sworn in for her third term.

Giffords surprised her colleagues by appearing in the House from 01 August to vote on the agreement of the debt ceiling, but has largely avoided public attention, spending most of their time at TIRR Memorial Hermann, a center rehabilitation in Houston.

In the memoir, tells Kelly trying to tell his wife several times that she had been shot during a meeting with voters. But she did not understand until March 12.

Giffords asked Kelly if he remembered being shot, and she said yes, but he said it was difficult to know if it really did. She described what she remembers with three words: “Shot. Shocked. Fear.”

Later that day, Kelly said six people had died. Giffords was overcome with emotion and had trouble getting through her therapy.

It was not until July, weeks after being discharged from the hospital in Houston to Kelly’s house 25 miles away, he learned that he had died: an official, a federal judge, a 9-year-old Giffords and three others did not.

Gabrielle Giffords

Gabrielle Giffords, Gabrielle Giffords (D-Ariz.) surprised to Congress Monday night, when the vote came the debt ceiling 11 hours on the floor of the House of Representatives.

Arizona Congressman received at least three rounds of prolonged applause from colleagues as he entered the Capitol building for the first time since he was shot in the head in Tucson in January.

Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi Giffords acknowledged on the floor, saying she is “the personification of courage, honesty, admiration across the country.”

“Throughout America, there is a name that arouses more love, more admiration, more respect, rather than wish for our daughters to be like her the name Gabby Giffords,” said Pelosi.

Giffords was all smiles, was greeted with hugs and handshakes and surrounded by her colleagues. It’s been less than two months since her release from Houston TIRR Memorial Hermann Hospital. Upon her release, doctors may take months or even years of intensive therapy for her to relearn to walk and talk.

The congressman was killed on January 8 during a meeting with constituents in Arizona Safeway. The gunman was Loughner Jared Lee, who ended up killing six people.

His return to Washington on Monday, wrote on her Facebook page, “The Capitol # looks beautiful and I am honored to be at work tonight.”

Giffords returned to Washington to support the bipartisan bill “to prevent the economic crisis”, as its Facebook page.

She voted for the bill, which would reduce federal spending by at least 2.1 trillion and more than a decade and the debt limit will be increased at least that well.

The measure passed the House 269-161.

“I have closely followed the debate about our debt ceiling and have been deeply disappointed by what is happening in Washington,” Giffords said in a statement.

“After weeks of debate not in Washington, I had the pleasure of seeing a solution to this crisis emerges. I firmly believe that cross the aisle for the good of the American people is more important than political parties.”

He added: “I had to be here for this vote. I could not run the risk that my absence would block our economy.”

The bill goes to the Senate for a vote on Tuesday.